The present invention relates to surgery and, more specifically, the present invention relates to back surgery. Specialized back surgery on or in-between vertebrae of the spine and on spinal discs involves various meticulous surgical procedures which can be challenging, even for experienced surgeons who specialize in this particular surgery. Minimally invasive techniques are preferred over traditional open surgical procedures which require extensive operating time and post-operative recovery time.
When employing minimally invasive surgical techniques on or between spinal vertebrae or on discs, one of the challenging requirements relates to providing electrodes of an electrosurgical device into the operative field. More specifically, care must be taken to ensure that the electrode penetrates the vertebrae or other areas of the spine to a proper depth. To accomplish this, surgeons often are careful when positioning or actuating electrosurgical instruments to ensure that electrode only travels a certain distance into the operative field.